Hutchinson-Gilford progeria fibroblasts exhibit metabolically normal uridine uptake and RNA synthetic rates.

The accelerated aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome displays altered messenger RNA levels in cultured fibroblasts, yet little is known of effects on transcription by RNA polymerases other than RNA polymerase II. Total RNA metabolism was examined by incubation of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria fibroblasts with [5-3H]uridine in asynchronous culture. Uptake of radiolabel was quantitative and was incorporated preferentially (99 +/- 0.3%) into newly synthesized RNA. Progeria and control cultures showed comparable rates of uptake of radiolabel, time courses of RNA synthesis, and relative intensity profiles of newly synthesized ribosomal RNA. These characteristics held over a greater than ten-fold range of cell densities (5 x 10(3) to 8 x 10(4) cells/cm2). Progeria and control fibroblasts thus have comparable metabolic capacities for uridine uptake and net RNA production, emphasizing the relative specificity of transcriptional changes previously identified in progeria cells.